Republican congressional candidate Gary DeLong ripped the cell phone from the hand of a Democratic Party tracker who was recording him Friday night at the end a candidate forum, leading to a scuffle.

The tracker, a young woman, was recording the Long Beach City Councilman's every move with her cell phone as he greeted members of the audience at Cal State Long Beach as the event drew to a close.

Campaign trackers such are often used to record footage of candidates that could be used by a political party. The Democratic tracker has been attending DeLong's public appearances for nearly three weeks to record him on video, one DeLong supporter said.

Supporters called the woman's actions "stalking," and after DeLong took the phone from her Friday, they stepped in to block her access to the councilman.

After taking the phone to two members of the League of Women Voters, which was sponsoring the forum, the woman grabbed her phone from DeLong and continued recording.

DeLong had a brief exchange with the woman, who only replied "I don't work for Sen. Alan Lowenthal," referring to the Democratic state senator who is DeLong's opponent and was also at Friday's forum.

She added: "This is a public space, I have the right to record," before DeLong went to Lowenthal asking him to intervene.

Lowenthal seemed to want nothing to do with the situation at hand, replying, "I do not employ her."

He also added that the Republican Party has trackers that had done the same to him in two press conferences this week.

DeLong replied, "I am disappointed, Alan."

The woman continued recording, fighting DeLong's supporters for access, and at one point, a female supporter held up a jacket to prevent the women from filming DeLong, as he shook hands and spoke with various constituents.

The contest between DeLong and Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal for the newly formed 47 th Congressional District has become the most heated and closely watched contest in Long Beach. The district encompasses most of the city and western portions of Orange County.

Before the confrontation, it was a full house at the debate, which took place at the Pointe at the Pyramid at CSULB and was sponsored by the League of Women Voters, California State Long Beach and University of California Los Angeles.

During the 1 1/2-hour debate, Lowenthal made it clear that a vote for Delong would be a step in the wrong direction, telling the audience that the change led by President Barack Obama is the direction the country needs to be going in.

"We are moving in the right direction," he said. "It is not the time to turn around."

Lowenthal conceded that his rival held socially moderate views on issues such as gay marriage, and that DeLong doesn't support repealing President Barack Obama's health care law, but said, "He is running as a Republican and will be one more vote for the party leadership."

DeLong insisted that he was a "maverick" not bound to the opinions of his party, such as Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"I am pro-choice, they are pro-life," he said. "I support gay marriage, they don't. They are many things that I disagree with the Republican party on, but my job isn't to agree with the party, it is to support the constituents of the 47th District."